New Apologetics Gareth Northam
We offer the following not as an attempt to put you in the wrong, but for your prayerful consideration:
The Apostles had the right to teach with a particular authority:
Acts 2:42 reported that the people “devoted themselves to the teaching of the Apostles.”
Acts 5:13: “No one of the rest dared to join himself to them [the Apostles] but the people magnified them.”
Peter himself warns against the private interpretation of scripture without the guidance of Church authority to tell us what it means. Referring to St. Paul’s Epistles: “there are many things hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.” (2 Peter 3:15-16)
Are we each placing our hope in our our own “stability” and “non-ignorance” in interpreting the scripture? Are not many asking the Holy Spirit for guidance and yet disagreeing on the meaning of scripture? What then is the criterion for correct interpretation? Is it our own ability to hear God because of our personal holiness? But what is holiness apart from the Holy Spirit who grants each the very righteousness of God?
Concerning the fact that God has bestowed his authority upon mere men:
“The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. (Jesus) said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.'” (John 20: 21-23)
Who has this power to forgive sins on earth today? Who has the power to *retain* them, though a person may (wrongly) believe himself forgiven?
And as the definitive demonstration of the authority to bind and loose:
This is the letter delivered by them: “The apostles and the presbyters, your brothers, to the brothers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia of Gentile origin: greetings. Since we have heard that some of our number (who went out) without any mandate from us have upset you with their teachings and disturbed your peace of mind, we have with one accord decided to choose representatives and to send them to you along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, who have dedicated their lives to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we are sending Judas and Silas who will also convey this same message by word of mouth: ‘It is the decision of the holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities, namely, to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meats of strangled animals, and from unlawful marriage. If you keep free of these, you will be doing what is right. Farewell.'” And so they were sent on their journey. Upon their arrival in Antioch they called the assembly together and delivered the letter. When the people read it, they were delighted with the exhortation.” (Acts 15: 23-31)
Concerning whether the Apostles had the power to appoint successors:
“So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this apostolic ministry from which Judas turned away to go to his own place.” Then they gave lots to them, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was counted with the eleven apostles. (Acts: 23-26)
We Catholics believe that the Apostles appointed successors, and that their authority to do all of the things described above will persist in the world until the end.
December 26, 2012 at 1:15pm · Like